


Three People Whose Sidekick Kato Never Was (and One Who Was Never His)

by misura



Category: Green Hornet (2011), Iron Man (Movies), Speed Racer (2008), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-19
Updated: 2012-08-19
Packaged: 2017-11-12 11:41:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/490502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To be precise: Tony Stark, Clark Kent and Rex Racer, and Britt Reid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three People Whose Sidekick Kato Never Was (and One Who Was Never His)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heywilma](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heywilma/gifts).



> here's to hoping you know at least some of these other characters/fandoms - apologies for the ones you don't know (they just seemed to fit Kato, for various reasons)

.01 _Tony Stark_

Tony's got great liquor (which he is always happy to share), some awesome cars (which he'll let people borrow so long as they bring them back mostly in one piece) a superhot personal assistant (who is completely off-limits) and the kind of workshop only lots of money can buy.

Kato isn't jealous, exactly; Tony's a nice guy. Fun to hang out with every now and then, if you don't mind living on coffee and pizza for a couple of days.

He makes a few sketches of the suit - nothing too detailed, just sketches. Ideas. Tony might actually show him the suit if he asks, but Kato doesn't really see the point: there's a lot you can do with scrap metal and bits and pieces and a few dollars spent at Home Depot, but he's fairly sure that building an armored suit powered by an arc reactor isn't one of them.

(Tony's supposed to have done just that, but then, Tony is Tony. Also, international terrorists probably have a somewhat different definition of 'scrap metal' than Kato, to say nothing of the unlikeliness of their going shopping at Home Depot.)

His first thought when he walks in on Tony leafing through his sketchbook is that it'll take him about three seconds too long to make it to the garage and his bike. (Pepper Potts is, alas, a beautiful woman, and if Kato can't touch, well, then there's nothing keeping him from looking and fantasizing a bit.)

(Unfortunately, there's also nothing keeping Tony from taking a sketch of his PA while missing most of her clothes the entirely wrong way.)

"Huh," Tony says, looking up with an expression that's more puzzled than pissed off. "You know, I never thought of doing it that way."

Kato considers the pros and cons of a quick tactical strike to get his sketchbook back. "No?"

Tony shows him the drawing. It's about three pages away from the danger zone.

"But, you know what, I think it might actually work better that way," Tony says, and from a Certain Someone, that line might have sounded like an insult, but from Tony, it comes out sounding more like an actual compliment. Like Britt, Tony knows pretty well how smart he is, but unlike Britt, he's _right_. "Mind if I borrow this for a couple of minutes? I'll have JARVIS make a scan."

"Just take it," Kato says quickly. "Rip it out," he adds, to clarify he's talking about the sketch of the suit only, not the whole sketchbook.

Tony makes this gesture he's always making when he thinks people are being too modest. "JARVIS, scan please."

"Will that be only the schematics of the suit, sir, or also the nude study of Miss Potts?"

And this would be why Kato won't ever build himself an AI: you simply can't rely on them when it counts.

 

.02 _Clark Kent_

"So our new boss is kind of a dick, huh?" Kato asks casually. It's just small talk, really; nothing serious.

Clark looks like he's about half a second away from bolting. "Um."

Kato honestly doesn't know how someone who's this _nervous_ all the time can be a successful superhero - even if, by now, he's a good deal less puzzled about how Clark's been able to keep his secret identity as Superman a secret.

"Spoilt rich brat who doesn't know a thing about newspapers." And who seems to think that Kato's the coffee boy just because he's the youngest or something, adding insult to injury.

If this is what the future of _The Daily Sentinel_ looks like, maybe it's time to find a new job.

"He wasn't that bad," Clark says. "I mean, he's probably still upset about his dad."

"Naw, I think he's just a dickweed."

 

.03 _Rex Racer_

"I'm not sure if I really need _quite_ that much firepower," Rex says, when Kato shows him the sketches he's made, but he's grinning when he says it, and they both know it'll be the Inspector's call in the end, anyway.

Personally, Kato thinks he'd have liked to put in a bit more - speed is all very well, but there's not much point in being able to catch any criminal you want only to discover that while they may not be able to outrun you, they sure as hell are able to _outgun_ you.

The current design's his attempt to get the best of both worlds, a kind of balance between speed and firepower.

"What about the engine?"

Rex hesitates. Kato's designed about four cars for him right now, and with every one of them, it was the same story. The engine looked good, yes, but ...

"I'm not an expert, but it looks good," Rex says.

Aside from the part where he doesn't actually design them from scratch the way Kato does sometimes, Rex is as close to being an expert as you can get. "Yeah?"

Kato waits for the second 'but'. Pop Racer is very nearly a living legend, of course, and he's Rex's dad, so it shouldn't sting when Rex feels nobody's design is quite as good as Pop's, except that it kind of does.

"Yeah," Rex says. "I wish I could introduce you to my dad some time."

Kato manages not to grin like a loon. Mostly. "Hey, I like you and all, but I don't really swing that way. Besides, I'm too young to get married."

 

.01 _Britt Reid_

"You were meant for better things than making coffee," Britt says.

"You're right," Kato says, and then, because it'd been a pretty nice thing for Britt to say: "Thanks. And uh good luck with everything, I guess."

They shake hands like actual adults, and never meet again.


End file.
